A quarter of payday loan firms 'could leave industry'

A quarter of payday loan firms could leave the industry because of tough lending rules, the financial services watchdog said. The Financial Conduct Authority is taking over regulation from the Office of Fair Trading.

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The head of the Financial Conduct Authority, Martin Wheatley, said the regulator wanted to "take out" unscrupulous payday lenders.

He told Radio 4's Today programme.

Our concern has been that parts of this industry, not all, loan without doing any affordability checks and then loading costs onto people who simply cannot pay, and that's the part of the industry that we really want to take out, we want them to improve their standards or leave the industry.